Simon Templar face au Saint

Snappy mystery with perhaps a far-fetched premise but George Sanders at his suave and wry best. George Sanders is ahead of the police all of the way and he again manipulates them into succeeded despite their best efforts. The Saint, remarks Professor Horatio Bitts, "has never been convicted of a crime, has he?" OK, perhaps it is a bit much that we all have a double that so resembles us that even our most close confidants would not recognize us. OK, so from time to time it is difficult to tell on a black on white screen whether George is playing the Saint or his look-alike jewel thief "Boss Duke Bates." OK, so what does the "ST" ring really have to do with anything and which character had it in his possession? But consider that in this entry into the series, we have George Sanders cross-dressing and leaping fearlessly on the back of moving vehicles from which he is poised to save a damsel in distress! Not the greatest film, but certainly not the worst of the Saint lot if you include the group done with Sanders brother. The Saint's Double Trouble is better than most of the one hour produced for TV mysteries that we are subjected to today. Jonathan Hale is perfect as Inspector Fernack and Donald MacBride does yeoman service as the Philadelphia police chief of detectives. Bela Lugosi must have needed the work. One of two of Helene Whitney's credited films. Her most memorable line is the closing line of the film: "Long live the Saint."

Fourth film in the Saint series from RKO has George Sanders playing dual roles: Simon Templar and his evil doppelganger, Duke! The Saint has 48 hours to prove it was Duke and not he that committed a murder. Guess what? He'll only need 47. This is a good entry in the series with Sanders having fun playing bad. It's very amusing to hear him say things like "You mugs," even if he makes little effort to hide his accent. Bela Lugosi is also in this but, unfortunately, he's not given much to do. He's just an associate of the evil double. Still it's cool seeing Lugosi playing in a non-horror role with an actor you don't normally see him with. Pretty Helene Reynolds is the obligatory would-be love interest. The camera is in love with her. After being absent in the last film, Jonathan Hale returns as the likable police inspector frenemy of the Saint. The rest of the cast includes Donald MacBride, Byron Foulger, Thomas W. Ross, John F. Hamilton, and Elliott Sullivan. Those last two play the evil double's henchman. They have some funny lines.

An enjoyable movie, mostly due to Sanders. The story isn't much to get excited about. It's never really explained why Saint has a double or what led Duke to know about him in the first place. Also, the Saint not seeming upset about the killing of the kindly old man who was a friend of his didn't sit right with me. Oh, and how cool is it that apparently back in the old days a guy could mail a mummy to another guy halfway around the world. And we think we have progress!

While some are better than others, pretty much all of the Saint films starring George Sanders are watchable at least once, even the lesser efforts. 'The Saint's Double Trouble' is a contender for the weakest of the series, and somewhat of a let-down after one of the best of the series with 'The Saint Takes Over'.

There are good things here. The sets are suitably atmospheric, it is one of the better looking films of the series and jauntily scored. The best thing about the film is Sanders, not just playing the title role but also his criminal double. He is super-suave, sophisticated and wonderfully caddish, while also giving a charming and humorous edge and delivering some cutting lines with aplomb.

Jonathan Hale is also very good, while the ending is effective.

On the other hand, the script is a complete mess and is enough to bring the film down more than one notch. It is just too underdeveloped and has too many loose ends, with a lot of corn and very little mystery. The story is also one of the series' least involving, it fails to maintain momentum and gets needlessly over-complicated with very few twists and turns.

It is interesting for featuring Bela Lugosi, who tries to depart from his horror roles to prove that he could do more than that. However he makes very little impact in a role with nothing to it whatsoever, a real waste. The characters are just not interesting at all and sometimes confusingly written.

In summary, a contender for weakest of the Saint films with Sanders. Sanders and Hale are fine but the script and story certainly aren't and bring the film down significantly. 5/10 Bethany Cox

There's a dead ringer for Simon Templar operating as a crime kingpin in Philadelphia…and he's started leaving the Saint's calling card at crime scenes. Will the real Simon Templar please come investigate?

Meanwhile, the Saint's old friend Inspector Fernack (Jonathan Hale) is on vacation in—you guessed it—Philadelphia. He stops at the department to visit old friend Deputy Chief Bohlen (Donald MacBride)—and tags along with him on a murder case that turns up the Saint's calling card. Fernack is on the job.

George Sanders pulls double duty as both Simon Templar and his counterpart, "The Boss" of Philadelphia crime, in this far-fetched but entertaining mystery. The hero's look-alike, and a single actor playing both roles, is not an especially unique idea; and this particular version of that old plot doesn't offer any special twists or turns. Basically, the Saint encounters mistaken identity, sets out to clear his name, runs into danger….

Sanders is, of course, very good. Hale is also fine as Inspector Fernack, and the picture's best scenes are mostly those between Sanders and Hale, as once again outward gruffness partly veils their mutual respect and admiration.

Bela Lugosi is a henchman with a thick accent; somewhat disappointingly, his role here is rather bland and Lugosi becomes just another actor. Helene Whitney is fine as an old flame of Simon's whose professor father is unwittingly drawn into the bad guys' plot; again, her performance is good but the role is rather predictable.

A rather slow middle section is redeemed by an exciting final third, culminating in a neat and clever resolution…. Overall: nothing exceptional but smoothly produced and certainly easy to take, especially for fans of the Saint or Sanders or B mysteries in general.

Saint's Double Trouble, The (1940)

** (out of 4)

Fourth film in the popular RKO series is perhaps the weakest. This time out The Saint, aka Simon Templar (George Sanders), is wanted by the police for a string of robberies. He didn't actually commit the crimes and must prove his innocence by tracking down the thief who is his double. I made a major mistake by watching this film first from the series and I say mistake because after watching this many might not want to try the others out, which would be a shame as the series actually delivered some pretty good movies. This one here is without question one of the weakest as even Sanders appears to be bored out of his mind. The biggest problem is that the actual story is just too far fetched to be believed. Yes, I know all of these detective films require some wild things to happen but what goes on here, in terms of the double, is just silly and will have your rolling your eyes. Helene Whitney is also quite boring in her part but Jonathan Hale delivers some nice work. He also gets the best scene in the movie when The Saint is daring him to shoot him. The payoff here is quite nice. Bela Lugosi is wasted in his fourth-billed role. It's a shame they couldn't have spiced his part up just a bit. If you're new to the series you certainly won't want to start here. If you're a Lugosi nut just wanting to see him, forget about it because he isn't here long enough to do much. An all around disappointing entry.